Continuing my Tudor addiction with the ZF Heritage 2016 Black Bay Black. This is the updated model that is replicating the 2016 in house movement update to the black bay line.
I tried on the in house Black Bay at an AD, and at first I was annoyed at how thick it was compared to the older model. However, now I’ve got the bracelet on my rep correctly sized, it wears completely differently. The caseback disappears into the wrist, leaving a smaller profile than I first thought. That was really the only thing I was unsure about, so very happy that it’s not as big of an issue as I thought it would be!
Dial
The dial is very elegantly finished, and it’s clear a lot of thought went into the layout and proportions.
This is the 2016 Shield clone, and as such gone is the curved text, and in its place we have three lines of straight, capitalised text. The choice of words stacks nicely, creating a hierarchal read order that balances well with the symmetry in the rest of the dial. Similar to the Pelagos, the text is three dimensional, but not to as high of a degree as seen on the gen.
The rose gold toned metal surrounds of the markers and hands are excellently finished. The circular markers combined with the harsh angles of the hands and 12h triangle mean there’s always some part of the dial that is catching the light.
The bezel has a gentle shine to it, and the number markings have a similar shine to the rest of the case steel. This is a nice repeated design element, which is continued to the surround of the lume filled bezel pip.
The case is only brushed on the front of the lugs. Everything else is high-polish (i.e. fingerprint magnet). It takes a bit of getting used to, but if you put the watch on by only making contact with the lateral parts of the bracelet, you can avoid the need to wipe it down after putting it on. It still does pick up marks throughout the day, and they’re particularly hard to remove around the crown, which makes cleaning awkward close to the thread. The crown engraving is nicely done, and has a substantial depth.
Bracelet
The bracelet is also changed from the rose dial Black Bay. It now has a faux riveted design that seems to be pretty divisive in the community. Personally, I love it. I feel it makes it that much more different in look and feel to my Pelagos, and it creates additional points of reflection for that wrist sparkle. Oddly the links are still screwed, so towards the clasp you get a break in symmetry which looks like the rivets have popped off. I find I only notice it when opening the clasp though, When typing or writing the visible links are all fully riveted.
The bracelet brushing is very nicely executed, and the edging of the links are bordered, which I think adds a nice touch.
The clasp has a very solid action – it’s takes a decent amount of force to open the terminal release. It’s a lot shorter than the Pelagos, as there’s no micro adjust. I do miss the comfort of the Pelagos’ spring adjustment, but the clasp is actually a lot more comfortable against a desk due to its smaller length.
Here’s a side-by-side of the spare links from the Pelagos (titanium) and Black Bay (steel). The background is aluminium. The Pelagos bracelet tapers slightly from lugs to clasp, however the BB is straight throughout.
Lume
The lume’s nice and uniform. You can see the pillowy texture close up. The rectangular markers take a greater exposure to light to gain the same amount of luminescence as the other features of the dial. From sunshine, that’s not an issue, but artificial lighting leaves the 3 6 and 9 markers looking a little dim.
Conclusion
Overall, I’d say this was very close to perfect. I’ve heard that the red surround to the bezel pip is slightly off – I can’t see the difference to the gen, but I’ve not had them side by side. I’d give it a 9.5/10 – if they could get the dial text more three dimensional on future revisions I’d buy it again!
I tried on the in house Black Bay at an AD, and at first I was annoyed at how thick it was compared to the older model. However, now I’ve got the bracelet on my rep correctly sized, it wears completely differently. The caseback disappears into the wrist, leaving a smaller profile than I first thought. That was really the only thing I was unsure about, so very happy that it’s not as big of an issue as I thought it would be!
Dial
The dial is very elegantly finished, and it’s clear a lot of thought went into the layout and proportions.
This is the 2016 Shield clone, and as such gone is the curved text, and in its place we have three lines of straight, capitalised text. The choice of words stacks nicely, creating a hierarchal read order that balances well with the symmetry in the rest of the dial. Similar to the Pelagos, the text is three dimensional, but not to as high of a degree as seen on the gen.
The rose gold toned metal surrounds of the markers and hands are excellently finished. The circular markers combined with the harsh angles of the hands and 12h triangle mean there’s always some part of the dial that is catching the light.
The bezel has a gentle shine to it, and the number markings have a similar shine to the rest of the case steel. This is a nice repeated design element, which is continued to the surround of the lume filled bezel pip.
The case is only brushed on the front of the lugs. Everything else is high-polish (i.e. fingerprint magnet). It takes a bit of getting used to, but if you put the watch on by only making contact with the lateral parts of the bracelet, you can avoid the need to wipe it down after putting it on. It still does pick up marks throughout the day, and they’re particularly hard to remove around the crown, which makes cleaning awkward close to the thread. The crown engraving is nicely done, and has a substantial depth.
Bracelet
The bracelet is also changed from the rose dial Black Bay. It now has a faux riveted design that seems to be pretty divisive in the community. Personally, I love it. I feel it makes it that much more different in look and feel to my Pelagos, and it creates additional points of reflection for that wrist sparkle. Oddly the links are still screwed, so towards the clasp you get a break in symmetry which looks like the rivets have popped off. I find I only notice it when opening the clasp though, When typing or writing the visible links are all fully riveted.
The bracelet brushing is very nicely executed, and the edging of the links are bordered, which I think adds a nice touch.
The clasp has a very solid action – it’s takes a decent amount of force to open the terminal release. It’s a lot shorter than the Pelagos, as there’s no micro adjust. I do miss the comfort of the Pelagos’ spring adjustment, but the clasp is actually a lot more comfortable against a desk due to its smaller length.
Here’s a side-by-side of the spare links from the Pelagos (titanium) and Black Bay (steel). The background is aluminium. The Pelagos bracelet tapers slightly from lugs to clasp, however the BB is straight throughout.
Lume
The lume’s nice and uniform. You can see the pillowy texture close up. The rectangular markers take a greater exposure to light to gain the same amount of luminescence as the other features of the dial. From sunshine, that’s not an issue, but artificial lighting leaves the 3 6 and 9 markers looking a little dim.
Conclusion
Overall, I’d say this was very close to perfect. I’ve heard that the red surround to the bezel pip is slightly off – I can’t see the difference to the gen, but I’ve not had them side by side. I’d give it a 9.5/10 – if they could get the dial text more three dimensional on future revisions I’d buy it again!
